Sicily

Sicily is an island located to the south of mainland Italy, and it is currently an autonomous region of Italy. Located in the Mediterranean Sea region, it has a climate similar to other Mediterranean countries, and it has a rich culture that has been taken from multiple other cultures in the past. The Greeks and Phoenicians settled Sicily by around 750 BC, but the Roman Empire would conquer Sicily in the Punic Wars and rule it until the Vandals and Ostrogoths conquered it in the 5th century. Over the next thousand years, Sicily changed hands as the Byzantine Empire, Emirate of Sicily, Normans, House of Hohenstaufen, House of Anjou, Spain, House of Habsburg, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies took power at different dates, and the unification of Italy in 1860 led to Sicily being united with the Kingdom of Italy on the mainland. In 2015, Sicily had a population of 5,077,487 people, and Sicilian and Italian are the two largest languages of Sicily.